No One Changes
by Dolly-999
Summary: Alex and Claire are blistfully in love. Could a visit from Peter on his daughter's first birthday ruin their happiness? centered around Claire, Alex, Charlotte, and Peter, rated T for language, and some adult themes later on. Please read and review.
1. Prologue

_**No one changes**_

This is a story that I have written about Claire and Alex, I have change a few things. Claire didn't die; she got out of the car in time before it went over the cliff, also, Alex didn't buy the ring when he moved in with Claire at Drovers run. This story is set around the time of Charlotte's first birthday.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story.

_**Prologue**_

Alex could feel his heart pounding so fast he thought it was about to explode, it was time. He looked over at Claire who was sitting across the table from him. God she was beautiful, it was amazing how, in such a small time she had captured his heart, it could never belong to anyone else, not ever. And hopefully, just hopefully, she would soon be his wife.

"Are you ok Alex?" Claire asked gently, he looked worried, not something that he showed anyone very often.

"Of course" Alex smiled, he'd planned everything perfectly, the time, the view over the creek, the candle lit dinner, the ring... 'Oh crap, the ring' Alex thought to himself "what did I do with it?' he panicked, patting his pockets with relief when he realised that it was in his pocket where he'd placed it earlier.

"Are you sure your fine?" Claire tried again, noticing his sudden panic.

"Yes, I'm sure I'm fine" he reassured her, leaning across the table to grab her hand. "Come for a walk?"

"Sure, I'd love to" she agreed.

The sun was about to set over drovers, creating shades of pink, orange and purple across the sky, Alex nervously walked along side Claire with his arm around her shoulder. "Claire?"

"Yes Alex?" She smiled at him.

"There's um... there's something I've been meaning to ask you" he started, taking a step back from her and holding both of her hands in his.

"And what's that?" Claire asked, looking slightly amused at his face once again resuming its previous worries.

"You know I love you right... and I want to spend every day of eternity with you and bom?"

"Of course" she exclaimed, wondering where this sudden statement had surfaced from.

Alex smiled at this and let go of her right hand, taking out the rind from his pocket and bending down onto one knee. Claire suddenly felt a rush of excitement from deep down inside her; she couldn't believe that this was all happening.

"Claire McLeod" Alex spoke, "Will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?"

"Yes!" Claire shrieked, "Of course I'll marry you!"

Gently taking the ring out of its box, Alex placed it onto Claire's finger. He had the biggest smile on his face, nothing could possibly remove that

"I love it, it's beautiful" Claire whispered.

"I love you so much Claire" Alex told her, standing back up on his two feet as he tried to fight back tears of happiness, "more than I ever thought I could love anyone".

"I love you too Alex" she replied, leaning in to lock his lips with hers. Soon they would be married and nobody could interfere with that, well, that's what they both thought.

_Please review and tell me what you think any suggestions or tips on how to improve the story would be appreciated, I will put the next chapter up soon._

Chapter 1. My daughter our daughter

Peter Johnson turns up.


	2. Ch 1, My Daughter, Our Daughter

**Thank you too '****HappyHereford' for your review, I can't promise that I will update as quickly as this, but I will do so when I can, here's the first chapter:**

_**Chapter 1. My daughter, our daughter**_

Claire McLeod woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. She couldn't believe that it wouldn't be long till she would be Alex's wife, everything she had ever wanted was being given to her; she had a man who adored her, a beautiful daughter, and an amazing family around her. She hadn't been this happy in a long time, not since before Peter turned her life upside down.

She looked down at the ring that Alex had placed on her finger the night before, it was so beautiful, not just because of its appearance, but because she knew that Alex had searched for it just for her. Now that he was in her life she couldn't imagine it without him. Rolling over to face him she realised that he was already awake, just watching her.

"Good morning beautiful" he whispered to her, kissing her lightly on the top of her head before cupping her face and moving it so that they could see each other.

"Good morning" Claire smiled in return, looking into his eyes, those big blue eyes that she so easily got lost in. "How did you sleep?"

"Better than I ever have" he replied, wrapping his arms around her waist before pulling her in to give her a soft kiss which she immediately responded too. "We should probably get up and start telling people" he changed the subject. When they'd gotten home last night everyone was already in bed asleep.

"Yeah we should..." Clair trailed off, not really wanting to get out of bed, "Or we could just stay in bed all day".

"We could...."

"I could make it worth your while" she persuaded him, raising her eyebrows before reconnecting their lips.

"Mmm" was all Alex could mumble before flipping them over so that he was on top of her. It really didn't take much to convince him that it was a better option, not when he was so madly in love with her.

"Alex" Claire giggled, unlocking their lips for a moment before Alex's came crashing down on top of hers once again. "Alex" she tried again.

"Mmm" he answered as he began planting kisses down her neck.

"Why did it take so long for us to get together?"

Puzzled by her question Alex stopped for a moment and sat up again, "What do you mean?"

"Well" Claire started, her brain thinking overtime, "We've known each other our whole lives... I mean, why couldn't we have been doing this year's ago?"

"Yeah well I guess we just didn't know that it could be this wonderful" he spoke when he could think of an answer to her question, "I wish I had though..."

"Me too" she smiled, before grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him back down on top of her. "I think we've done enough talking... don't you?" she whispered seductively into his ear.

All Alex could do was moan in agreement as Claire began planning a trail of kisses down his neck.

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About Half an hour later Alex and Clair made their way down into the kitchen to find that everyone had already done their morning cores and started breakfast.

"Morning" Tess greeted them as she finished her cereal and moved towards the sink to start the washing up. "You two were out late" she commented "where did you get too?"

Claire and Alex turned to each other and smiled, everyone looking at them waiting for a response. "Well" Alex started, "we, um..."

"We're getting Married!" Claire exclaimed getting in before Alex left the all hanging for too long, she couldn't wait any longer.

"That's fantastic!" Tess shrieked, racing towards her sister and wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

"Yeah that it" Jodi joined in getting up to take a look at the ring.

"You chose well Alex" Tess commented when Claire put her hand out to show the girls the ring, "I'm impressed".

"Yeah well, only the best for my fiancée" he smiled, he loved being able to tell the world that she was his and nobody else's, it had been something he had wanted for a very long time. Coming up behind her he wrapped his arms around her hips and kissed her head, he would never let her go.

"Well Congratulations guys" Jodi told them before heading out to get to work.

"Thanks Jods" Claire called out after her.

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_Two weeks later- Charlotte's birthday_

It was three O'clock and a number of toddlers from the local area had come to Charlotte's birthday party which had been going for an hour now. Tess had gone to alot of effort to decorate the back of the house will balloons and streamers, and Claire had to admit, it looked fantastic. She couldn't believe that her little princess was already a year old, she didn't know where the time had all gone, it was like she'd blinked and her little girl had grown up in a second.

"Hey Claire" Trey called out as he came around the corner of the house dressed in a clown suit, "where do you want me?"

"Over with the kids would be good" Claire told him, pointing over to where Meg and Tess had the group of toddlers sitting in a circle playing pass the parcel.

"Sure thing" he answered before running over to where the kids were finishing up.

It wasn't long before Alex arrived late. "Where have you been?" Claire asked, not too happy that Alex hadn't been early back from Kinarlly like she'd asked him to be.

"Sorry I got held up" Alex apologised, "I've got a surprise for bom".

"Really? What is it?" she smiled, momentarily forgetting that she had just been cranky with him.

"Come and have a look" he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him until they came around to the front of the house where his car was parked with a horse float on the back of it. Alex opened the back of the horse float and guided Claire around the back to take a look inside, and there before her was a pony.

"Oh My God, you bought her a horse?" Claire exclaimed.

"Well a pony to be exact" Alex corrected her, placing his arms around her from behind.

"This is amazing, Charlotte will love it" she grinned, "You didn't have too".

"I know I didn't, I wanted to" he replied, "she's a country kid, and country kids need to learn how to ride, and this way we could teach her together".

"I like the sound of that" Claire spoke softly turning herself around to kiss him.

They stayed like that for a few minutes; neither of them speaking a word until Alex stopped them. "We should really get back to the party"

"Yeah we should" Claire sighed.

"You go get Charlotte ready and I'll bring the pony around, ok"

"Ok" she agreed, giving him one last kiss before she disappeared back around to the back of the house to get bom ready for her surprise.

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_Half an hour later_

The Party was getting smaller, many parents had already come to get their children and there were only a few of Charlotte's closer friend left from her play group. Charlotte had still refused to get of her new Pony who she'd called sunshine (one of the few words she'd learned) and Alex was still leading her around talking baby talk to her. Claire couldn't help but smile, Alex had been the closest thing Charlotte had had to a real father; she was so glad that he was around to look out for her.

"Claire" Tess interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah what's wrong?" Claire asked when she looked up to see the worry in her sister's face.

"The police are here, they want to see you".

At that Claire quickly moved around to the front of the house where a police car was parked. "Claire McLeod?" and officer asked.

"Yeah that's me" Claire answered him. "Is everything alright officer?"

"I don't know I'm just the messenger" he informed her, passing her a large envelope. "I'll need you to sign off to say that you've received it".

"Alright, thanks" she replied, still not sure what this was all about, why would a police officer be dropping her mail? She signed the forms and started walking around back to where Tess was, opening the letter and starting to read as she did so.

"What the hell?" she cursed as she realised what was happening. Peter was taking her to court, for Charlotte.

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An hour had passed and Claire still hadn't spoken to anyone, as soon as she'd read the letter she'd run inside and locked herself in her room, out her window she could see that the last of Charlotte's friends were leaving, waving goodbye as their parents carried them away.

"Claire" knocked Alex at the door of their room. She walked over and unlocked it for him, moving straight into his arms and burying her head in his chest, trying to hold back the tears that just kept coming.

"Claire what's wrong?" he asked, concerned at what had set her off, he wrapped his arms around her, trying to stop all the hurt. "Come on Claire talk to me".

Claire couldn't talk, all she could do was release Alex's grasp and hand him the letter that she still had in her hand. As Alex read it, she could see the anger rising in his face, "That bastard!" he yelled, "I'm going to fix this Claire" he promised her, holding the letter with both his hands, "he's not taking her away from us, ok, were going to beat him".

Claire just nodded, she wanted to believe him so badly, but something deep down was telling her that this was just the beginning of Peter trying to turn her life upside down again.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nick yelled, from out the front of the house. The next thing that Claire and Alex heard was Peter's voice.

Alex raced down the stairs, right behind Nick within seconds to come face to face with the bastard himself, you've got some nerve showing your face around here after this!" Alex yelled holding up the letter from Peter's lawyers. Nick grabbed it off him and stepped back to where Tess was standing, the two of them reading what it said.

"Yeah well I have a right to see my daughter!" Peter yelled back at him as Alex through a punch in his direction, Peter grabbed his fist before it hit him and then used his other hand to try and punch Alex.

"Would you two stop it!" Claire cried when she came out the front door to find Alex and Peter throwing punches at each other. "Peter just leave!"

"Not until I get what I came here for. Our daughter" he told her, pushing Alex off of him.

"You will never have sole custody of MY Daughter" she screamed, stomping back into the house and slamming the door behind her.

_Please review and tell me what you think, I'll update when I get the chance too._

Next chapter, Chapter 2. Return of the past.

Claire's life feels like its falling apart, can a visit from Alex's biological father fix her problems.


	3. Ch 2, Return Of The Past

_**Chapter 2. Return of the past**_

Claire felt lost. In just a moment she'd gone from being blissfully happy to deeply depressed. It was like the past was coming back, here she was, and once again and Peter had found a way to hurt her. She could feel Alex's presence next to her as he sat down next to her on the edge of their bed. "He's gone" he whispered gently, placing light kissed of reassurance on her forehead.

"Yeah but for how long?" she cried. She knew he'd be back, he'd go away long enough for her to find her feet again and feel like she could handle the situation, and then he would be back, she was sure of it, it was what he'd always done.

"I'm going to contact Brice" Alex informed her, "he'll be able to fix this Claire".

Claire just nodded, as Alex left the room again, she couldn't deal with all of this now. Her mind was going in circles with questions, what it she had never kissed Peter in the first place? What if she hadn't brought the subject back up when he told her that they needed to keep their relationship strictly business? What if she never terminated her contract with Australian Bloodlines? What if she didn't go to see him that night in Gungellan when she'd already told him it was over? What if she never got pregnant? What if she'd told him that she was pregnant before he tried to blackmail her into marrying him? What if... just what if she didn't lie about who the father really was? Would things be different?

But the biggest question that was making her go insane was what if she'd just gotten together with Alex years ago? She knew the answer to that one, she never would have kissed Peter, she never would have gotten together with him, she never would have terminated her contract, she never would of gotten pregnant, Peter would have never blackmailed her, and she wouldn't have had to lie about who Charlotte's father was.

Tired from all of her thinking, Claire dragged her self along the bed and buried her body under the thick covers.

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"Hey, do you need a hand?" Alex offered as he came into the kitchen where Tess was cleaning up after Charlotte's party.

"No, it's alright, you go be with Claire, I can finish this" Tess reassured him, she could of done with the help, but right now Claire needed Alex.

"She's asleep, so is Charlotte" he explained.

"Well in that case you can dry" she told him, throwing a tea towel at him before turning back to the washing up. "How's she coping?"

"Not good" Alex sighed, "I've never seen her look so upset, it's like she's not even there" he explained. "You know what they say, the lights are on but nobody's home".

"She must be going through hell" Tess started, "I mean she only just got Peter out of her life for good a year ago when he signed the birth certificate and buggered off".

"Yeah, we all thought we'd seen the last of him".

"So what are we going to do about this custody battle, I mean, I know Claire probably doesn't want to even think about it right now, but were going to need to get a lawyer" Tess thought out allowed.

"It's already done, Brice will be here tomorrow, I was just on the phone to him before" Alex told her, putting away a now dry bowl in the cupboard before grabbing another one in the pile that Tess had washed.

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, we can't afford an expensive lawyer, and he's one of the best, he'll know how to get this over as quickly as possible" Alex reassured her. There was no way in hell that he would let Peter take Charlotte away from them, he had done a perfectly good job of staying out of her life so far, and as far as he was concerned, that was the way it needed to stay.

"Good" Tess nodded, the sooner this is over with the sooner Claire can get back to normal.

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_The next day_

"Hey you" Alex cooed at Charlotte at the top of the stairs and grabbed her in his arms before she could attempt to go down them and get herself hurt. "How about we go and have a ride on Sunshine? Does that sound good?"

Charlotte just smiled excitedly and nodded, she was so innocent. Alex sometimes wondered if she knew what kind of crap had been going on around her, if she did, she certainly didn't show it, she was always smiling... well most of the time anyway.

Walking down the stairs quietly he thought about how they'd gotten into this mess, they were so happy just over twenty four hours ago, and now things were falling apart. They were supposed to be planning their wedding and spending time being happy and in love, not preparing to go to court. The thing that worried him the most was Claire, she'd hardly spoken or done much since she read the letter informing her of Peter's decision to take her to court, he'd tried to comfort her, make her smile, but nothing was working, she spent all her time in bed, just sleeping or staring into open space. He'd never seen her like this; she was always the girl who would get angry when she was stressed like this, not zone out into another world. It was almost like she was pushing him away, last night she'd brought Charlotte into their bed, holding her daughter as she tried to sleep, normally at night he would hold her in his arms, but now she wouldn't let him.

"So were should we go today bom?" Alex asked Charlotte, knowing she wouldn't answer him, he needed to get his mind off Claire and Peter, not that it was possible, but he would try. "How about..." Alex thought as he sat Charlotte on a hay bale next to the small enclosure where sunshine was kept, "how about we go down to the creek, hey?" he continued in baby speech as he grabbed the small child sized saddle he'd gotten her to sit on, and put it onto sunshine. "do you think you'd like that?"

"You know she can't answer you, don't you Alex?" a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Brice" Alex spoke when he noticed who it was. He took the saddle back off of sunshine and placed it where it had been before.

"Traffic was good so I was running a bit early" he explained.

"Good to see you mate" he exclaimed walking over to where Brice was next to Charlotte and shaking his hand.

"You too" Brice answered. "This must be Charlotte then?" he spoke; turning his attention to the little girl perched on a hay bale.

"It certainly is" Alex told him, picking Charlotte up in his arms and beginning to walk along side his biological father as they walked up to the house.

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Once Brice had unpacked his stuff, he came out onto the back veranda where Alex was sitting with Charlotte on his lap. "It's a beautiful place you've got here" Brice commented as he admired the landscape.

"Yeah nothing like it in the city" Alex added.

"Indeed" he replied as Claire came out onto the veranda. "Claire" Brice addressed her as he noticed her presence.

"Brice" Claire replied, reaching out and shaking his hand. "Alex, do you think you could put Charlotte up in her room for a nap?" she asked, she wanted to deal with this whole matter now, and she didn't want Charlotte involved in it.

"Sure" Alex agreed, disappearing into the house with Charlotte with him.

"So, how do we deal with this then?" Claire asked.

"Well" Brice started taking a seat as Claire did so as well. "I first I need to go through the facts of the case with you, I can only advise you on what action is best, then you will need to make a decision for yourself".

"Ok then" Claire replied, she looked tired and unhappy, not like the Claire he'd met in the city, this had obviously taken its toll on her.

"I would recommend that it would be better for everyone if we tried to keep this out of the courts".

"Can we do that?"

"We can, there are other methods of dealing with these situations" he informed her, taking out his briefcase and opening it. "I would recommend Mediation" he added. "These situations need to be dealt with as quickly as possible to get a good result, its more harm than good to drag it through the courts; it could take months, if not more".

"Good" Claire sighed, that was all she wanted, a quick result.

"Now, as the mother and current sole carer of Charlotte, it does put you at an advantage" he reassured her, "and looking at Peter's file I can say in all confidence that we can come to an arrangement that will leave Charlotte in your care".

Claire smiled for the first time in the last twenty four hours, that was good news.

"Now can you tell me what prior contact you'd had with Mr Johnson before you received the court order?"

"The last time I saw him was when he signed Charlotte's birth certificate".

"And was there any intentions on his part to see Charlotte?"

"No" Claire shacked her head, "I did make it clear to him that I wouldn't stop him from seeing her, he is still her father".

"Good, and that will work in your favour too" he added, "the courts like to come to an agreement where both parents are still in contact with the child, any effort on your part to allow Peter to have contact with Charlotte will show then that you are looking out for her best interests".

"Brice" Claire interrupted him, "I have to know, will it work against me that Peter has his wife to help take care of Charlotte?"

"Wife?"

"Yeah, last time I saw Peter when he signed Charlotte's birth certificate, he said that he'd gotten back with his wife".

"Well that didn't last long" Brice commented, looking though the file in his hands, "accoutring to Peter's file, his wife filed for a divorce over a year ago".

"So before Charlotte was born?" Claire spoke softly, "but... Why would he lie about that?"

_Please review =)_

Chapter 3. finding my feet

Will Claire continue to push Alex away?


	4. Ch 3, Finding My Feet

_**Chapter 3. Finding my feet**_

Alex didn't go back out to join Claire and Brice; instead he sat beside Charlotte's crib watching her sleep. Mostly because he couldn't stand to have Claire reject his efforts to help or comfort her in any way.

Since Charlotte was born Alex had been the only thing close to a father for her, and now, as he sat and watched her sleep, he was starting to think about how this would affect him. Up until now all his attention had been focused on looking after Claire and how this would affect her, but now, he was starting to realise that this wasn't just about Claire and Charlotte, it was about him as well, if Peter took Charlotte away from Claire, he would be taking her away from him too.

It was not that he'd wished that he and Claire hadn't come clean about Peter being Charlotte's father, if they had let everyone including Peter think that he was the real father, right now they'd all be happy, and he could officially call Charlotte his daughter. That was all he wanted, for him and Claire to be happy, and for Charlotte to be with them.

Looking at Charlotte's face, he studied how alike she and Claire were, he'd seen pictures of Claire when she was a baby, she looked just like Charlotte, so small and beautiful, and so innocent, oblivious to the worries of the world around her. As he was watching, the little girl began to wake up, her big blue eyes opening wide and looking around the room until she found Alex sitting next to her.

"Hey Princess" Alex whispered to her, reaching over to hold her tiny hand, "its ok, you can go back to sleep. But Charlotte didn't want to go back to sleep, instead she sat herself up and crawled over to where Alex was and onto his lap. "Ok then, so what do you want to do then bom?" he asked, looking around the room, if he took her back down stairs Claire would probably just tell him to put her back to bed. "How about I read you a story then?" he suggested, picking her up in his arms and walking across to the bookcase where Charlotte reached out to grab one. "Ok then the three little bears it is".

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"Thanks Brice" Claire smiled as Brice got into his car out the front of the house.

"No problem. I'll be back as soon as I've seen Peter's lawyer" he replied before getting into the car and taking off up the driveway.

Claire breathed in a sigh of relief, the battle wasn't over yet, but she knew where she stood with Peter, and right now she had everything working in her favour. She waited till she could no longer see Brice's car before heading inside and up the stairs to see where Alex had gotten to, she hadn't seen him since he went to put Charlotte to bed which surprised her, usually Alex would be back to make sure that everything was in order, but for some reason he hadn't. She checked their room first to find that it was empty just as she had left it when she woke up to find that Brice was already there. Then she walked over to Charlotte's bedroom, and peeked in through the door. The sight that she saw brought another smile to her face, there was Alex sitting on the chair beside the crib, with Charlotte on his lap and an open book in his hand, both were sound asleep.

Claire snuck into the room, trying not to make a sound that would wake the two of them up. She took the story book out of Alex's hand before closing it and putting it back in its place on the shelf. She didn't dare wake them up, they looked too peaceful. Alex began to stir, smiling when he saw her standing in the middle of the room watching him and Charlotte. "Hey" he murmured, still half asleep.

"Hey yourself" she grinned.

It was the first time Alex had seen Claire smile in over twenty four hours. "I take it thinks with Brice went well?"

"Yeah they did" Claire told him, picking up another chair and placing it quietly in front of where he was seated. "Did you know Peter never really got back with his wife?"

"No" Alex responded looking puzzled.

"Yeah, apparently she filled for a divorce before Charlotte was born" Claire commented, "So he has no one with him to help look after Charlotte, he still hasn't got a stable or permanent job yet, and he hasn't spend more than a few minutes with Charlotte since she was born" she smiled, "Brice recons that we've got the upper hand".

Alex was relieved to hear that, "So basically Peter's going to lose?"

Claire just nodded before focusing her attention back on her sleeping daughter. "Do you think Peter will stay around when he loses?"

"I don't know, last time he was here I was starting to think he was a half decent bloke for manning up and signing Charlotte's birth certificate, but now, after the stunt he pulled, I really don't know Claire". Claire nodded again; neither of them spoke for a while, both contemplating the events of the last day, it was a lot to process.

"Claire" Alex broke the silence.

"Yeah?" Claire responded looking up at Alex whose expression had turned serious.

"Can you promise me something?" he spoke softly.

"Sure".

"Don't shut me out again".

Claire paused for a minute to think, had she been shutting him out? The last day had been a blur... she hadn't meant to shut him out. "I'm sorry" she apologised, "I didn't even realise I was, I've kind of been on auto pilot while I've been finding my feet".

"Yeah, you have".

"I'll do you a deal" she proposed, "You promise to try not to get into any more punching matches with Peter, and I'll try and make sure I don't keep you out of what's going on in my head".

"Hmm, yeah I think I can settle for that" Alex chuckled.

Chapter 4. The enemy's territory

Tess, Alex, and Nick do some investigating of their own.


	5. Ch 4, The Enemy's Territory

_Sorry it's been almost a week since I last updated, hope you enjoy the next chapter._

_**Chapter 4. The Enemy's Territory**_

The next morning when Alex woke up Claire was still sound asleep on the other side of the bed, with Charlotte in her arms. Once again for the second night in a row Claire had insisted that Charlotte stay with them, she was too scared that if she let go Peter would have another stab at taking bom away from her, not that she'd said it out loud, but her eyes said it all. _"There's supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight" _she had told him, insisting that she wasn't becoming paranoid,_ "we don't want Charlotte waking up in the middle of it scared"._ He reached across, over Charlotte to push a stray hair back in its place behind Claire's ear. Even now when she was still asleep he could feel the fear inside her, the worst part of it all was that even though she'd promised not to, she was still half shutting him out, not as much as she was before, but she still was. For a while the previous day he had thought that she was back to normal, the Claire he had fallen in love with in the first place, but it was like as soon as she'd convinced him everything was fine, she'd started to doubt it herself. He didn't understand why though, Peter couldn't win this, they both knew it, well at least he thought they both did.

Claire could feel Alex's touch; she didn't have to open her eyes to know that he was hurting. Yesterday she'd told him that she'd stop shutting him out, but although she had made an effort, she knew she still was, the problem was, right now she was more scared than she had ever been in her life. When she'd finished having her conversation with Brice yesterday, she'd truly believed that that was the end of feeling like this, but it was something that was only short lived, as soon as she'd started to go back over the last two years, everything that Peter had put her through, something inside her changed. Before Charlotte had came into her life she'd only ever had to look out for herself, now that she was a mother that had all changed. She clutched onto Charlotte a little bit tighter, hoping that if she held on tight enough she could protect her from everything that could possibly hurt her in the world. She knew she'd won the custody battle, what would happen next? She knew Peter well enough to know that he never just took one stab at her to try and hurt her before leaving her alone, he'd try again, as much as she tried to tell herself he wouldn't, deep down she knew he would. This wasn't like her at all, she was never the girl who gave into her insecurities, if this had been about her, she wouldn't be like this, but she had to protect her daughter; that was her job now.

She could feel the bed rising as the spring mattress gave a small screeching sound when Alex got out of bed, and a cold rush of air filled the bed as he lifted up his side of the blanket and laid it back down again. She could hear footsteps, but they weren't walking towards the door, they were getting closer to her. The sudden presence of Alex's lips on her fore head told her that he was there next to her. Sheepishly she stirred, opening her eyes slowly to look up at him. "Morning" she whispered, forcing a smile.

"Morning" he spoke back softly, running his fingers through her hair before speaking again. "I wasn't going to wake you up just yet, but you did say you were going to help Jodi and Stevie with those fences" he reminded her. He hated seeing her like this, she was lost, most people would look at her and not realise that she was, but he could see past her efforts to look like she had it all together. She shouldn't have been working just yet, she needed more time, but after her zoned out state the day before she'd been determined that the work wouldn't fall onto everyone else. "I could do it for you though, let you sleep in a bit longer" he offered, knowing she would say no, but he had to try.

"No, its ok, I can do it" she insisted, letting go of Charlotte for a moment to sit up. She could see what he was trying to do, but she didn't need him picking up the slack for her, she was perfectly capable at doing the work herself.

"How about I put Charlotte back in her own bed to get a bit more sleep then?" he asked, "the thunderstorms over".

"Ok then" she agreed reluctantly, picking up her little girl and handing her to Alex.

* * *

Once Alex had finished settling Charlotte and reading her a story Alex came down into the kitchen to find that Stevie, Claire and Jodi had already gone and only Nick and Tess were left. "Claire's gone then?" he asked, knowing already what the answer would be.

"Yeap, she insisted on helping with the fences" Tess answered, giving Alex a concerned look. "I had no luck trying to tell her she didn't need to" she sighed. This was typical of Claire; she could never take a proper break from work even when told too. She had to feel that she wasn't taking any charity from anyone.

"Neither did I" Alex responded, giving out a sigh as he pulled a chair out and sat down at the table to eat breakfast, he'd have to go over to Killarney later and get a few things sorted out for Harry later on, but for now it was his morning off.

"Is she talking to you yet?" Tess asked, trying to figure out what was going on in Claire's head.

"Not much" Alex explained, "She's scared though, even though she won't admit it, that bastard has really got her head messed up".

"You certainly got that right" Nick agreed. "If only we knew where he lived then we could go and do some investigating of our own".

Silence filled the table for a moment until Tess had an idea, "wait wasn't there an address on that court order?"

Nick and Alex both looked up at each other with a knowing look, no one spoke, they just all got up and moved quickly into the office where all the files were kept. Alex got in first, looking quickly over the piles of stuff on the desk, while Nick checked the filing cabinet and Tess stood and watched. "Got it" Alex announced, Tess and Nick both running to his side to have a look, "he lives in Fisher" he commented, that wasn't far away from them, surely it wouldn't take them too long to go into town and do some fishing around.

"Well we already have to go into Fisher later this morning" Nick told him. "Why don't you tag along?" he offered. Normally he wouldn't willingly get involved in something like this, but if they could find a way to make Claire feel even slightly more secure with this whole mess, then it needed to be done.

"Sounds like a plan".

* * *

Peter stepped out of the small house in fisher that he was currently renting, with one hand nursing the bruise on the side of his face from his fight with Alex only a few days before.

He didn't know what he was doing anymore, his lawyer had already told him he didn't have a chance of winning custody of this daughter any time soon, not with the perfect mother Claire was, if she was in some way extremely incapable of looking after a child then he'd have a case, but that was never going to happen. Claire was the perfect woman. He'd know that for the last two or more years, why he'd had the bright idea to give her more reason to hate him he didn't know.

Pulling the keys out of his pocket he moved towards the small car port at the side of the house and unlocked his car. He'd screwed up majorly. Nothing was going to change that.

* * *

Nick pulled up in front of a small old house in fisher, it didn't exactly look like the kind of house you'd imagine Peter Johnson living in. But then again since he no longer had his job with Australian bloodlines and as far as he knew was finding it difficult to get any work, he guessed that Peter didn't have many other options. "This is it" Nick announced to Tess and Alex who were in the car with him.

"You sure?" Tess questioned, looking at the state of the old house. It wasn't in terrible shape, but then again it was pretty close. The gardens needed weeding and the white wooden wall looked as though they were almost due to be re painted.

"Well it has to be" Alex commented, "The address said number 26, so this is it. Looks like his not home either".

"Ok then so what do we do then" Nick asked, when he'd suggested this earlier, he hadn't really thought about what he was really saying, finding the house was one thing, but breaking in? He hadn't really stopped to think that that's what they were about to do, after all how else were they going to find anything on the guy?

"Well" Alex started, thinking as he talked. "We can't all go in, one of us will need to stay and keep watch, we've all got our phones on us right?"

"Yeap" Nick and Tess both answered in unison.

"Well then, who stays and who goes?"

"I'll stay" Nick volunteered, "I'm to one with the dodgy leg anyway".

"Alright then" Tess said, "let's get this over with".

Tess and Alex hopped out of the car making their way around to the back of the house. Meanwhile Nick moved the car a few houses down turned down another street, parking the car so that he could keep watch of anything turning down Peter's driveway.

"Lets just make this quick" Tess told Alex as they came around to the back door of the house.

"Yeap" Alex agreed, going ahead of her to find a way in. He started inspecting the windows, they didn't look too secure surely there was an easy way to get in and put them back together without anyone noticing that they'd been.

"Alex what are you doing?"

"Finding a way in" he answered bluntly.

"Well have you may be tried the door?" she shot back blankly. Alex raised his eyebrows as he looked over at her, and sure enough she already had the back door open.

"How did you do that?"

"It wasn't locked" she giggled; trust Alex to do things the hard way. "Anyway, hurry up would you, Peter could be back soon and we'd have gotten nothing".

The two searched the house one room at a time. There was mostly the normal stuff you'd find in a house that had just been moved into, boxes, suitcases and furniture that had only half been put together. "I don't think we're going to find anything incriminating" Tess sighed, not that she really thought that they would find something that they could use against him.

"Yeah well were not finished yet" Alex insisted, there was no way he was giving up yet, not if there was a chance to bring Peter down. "You go that way" he told her pointing into the office, "and I'll check out the living rooms at the front".

Tess nodded, and Alex moved into the dining room where a table and chairs had already been set up with many boxes on it.

"Um, Alex" Tess called out before he could get any further.

"Yeah, you found something?"

"I think you should come and have a look for yourself".

_Please review, would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions =)_

Chapter 5. Underneath the surface

What do Tess and Alex find?

Peter and Claire talk will they come to an arrangement?


	6. Ch 5, Underneath The Surface

_Hey guys, sorry this chapter's a bit short, I'll try and write more next time =)_

_**Chapter the Surface**_

Alex quickly made his way into the office of Peter's house. "What is it Tess?" he asked looking concerned when he saw the worry in her face. She was standing around the other side of the desk with a few small booklets in her hands.

"I um, I..." Tess stuttered.

Alex reached out and took what she was looking at, they were small information booklets, no bigger than half an A4 sheet of paper. "Dealing with Leukaemia?" he read the title aloud. Alex never thought he could feel sorry for Peter Johnson, not after everything he had but Claire through. "So... He has Cancer?"

"They were just on the desk"

Flicking through the other booklets that were now in his hands, there was another one on treatments, and a third one on alternate treatment. This made Peter's sudden interest in seeing Charlotte seem more understandable, what if this was his last chance to get to know his daughter, what if he didn't have much longer left. Stepping around to the other side of the desk where Tess was, he placed the booklets back on the desk, taking a look at everything else on it, along the edges there were what seemed like millions of photo frames, mostly the ones that Claire had sent him over the last year of Charlotte, but then as he looked closer, he realised that there were still plenty there of Peter and Claire when they were seeing each other. "He's getting treatment in Fisher" Tess commented as she picked up more papers which had hospital information and the name of his doctor. "Dr Drew"

"We better get out of here" Alex told her, pulling himself back together, "we don't want to get caught".

Tess just nodded, putting everything back in its place where she had found it. Peter must be going through hell, she remembered thinking that she once had cancer, the possibility was enough to shake her, she'd hate to think what it was like to be told that all the suspicions where true.

* * *

Peter pulled up in front of the house on Drovers run, he wasn't sure if this was a good idea, the whole trip over he'd been contemplating whether he should have turned back and gone home. But he was here now, things had to be said. Knocking on the door he took a step back, his hands shaking, what if she wasn't home? Worse still, what if Alex was home? He placed his hand back on the bruises that were left on his face the last time he came into contact with Alex, not something he particularly wanted again, especially not in his condition anyway.

"Just a second" he heard Claire call out. Claire made her way down the stairs to the front door, she'd had a fairly productive morning, they'd fixed all of the fences and she'd gotten time to spend with Charlotte without Alex around to try and get her to open up. Making her way to the front door, she turned the door knob, opening it to find Peter there. Her face when from happy to angry, what was he doing here?

"Claire-"Peter started.

"Just go!"

"Please Claire" Peter pleaded, "I just want to talk, without all the lawyers; just us".

Claire sighed, "Alright" she agreed reluctantly, stepping back so that he could come in. "But make it quick".

They made their way out to the back porch and sat down on the couches that overlooked the beautiful landscape of Drovers.

"Look I know I've stuffed up" Peter began.

"Too right you have!"

"But" he stopped her before she could tear his head off. "I'm dropping the custody battle".

Claire breathed a sigh of relief, "good".

"I still want to see Charlotte though" he told her, "I know it will take you some time to trust me again, but I'd like the chance to do that".

Nodding Claire agreed, she didn't like the idea of Charlotte going to spend time with Peter, not after everything that had happened, but she knew it was what needed to happen. "Just answer this for me Peter. Why now?"

"I've lost everything Claire, my job, my wife, my daughter's... You, I can't lose her too" he explained, the heartbreak in his eyes was enough to send her over the edge, she couldn't believe she was really doing this, she couldn't believe that she was really feeling sorry for him.

"I never said that you couldn't see her".

"I know, I just... I don't know" he mumbled, he couldn't tell her the truth, not now, the truth was something he hadn't fully come to terms with himself.

_Please review_

Chapter 6. Security

Claire finds some perspective to help her open up

Nick, Alex, and Tess find it hard to keep their discovery to themselves.


	7. Ch 6, Security

_**Chapter 6. Security**_

Claire made her way back inside the house after seeing Peter off. In a way she was kind of glad that he had come to see her, things were a little clearer in her head. They'd come to an agreement, for now Peter would come and spend every second Sunday with Charlotte until Claire felt more comfortable with him seeing her and then Charlotte would go an spend the weekend at Peter's once a fortnight. It was a fair arrangement, one that she would need to talk to Alex about when he came home again.

She knew Alex wouldn't like it, she'd made this decision without him, but he was just going to have to get used to it, after all, he wasn't Charlotte's father, Peter was, and as much as Alex had been a father figure to bom so far, there were some things that just had to be done without him.

Something inside her felt at peace, almost like she'd gained some sort of security from Peter's visit earlier. Something had changed about him, something that told her that this wasn't about hurting her. That morning before he'd come, she'd gone through every possible thing Peter might do next, but none of this thoughts had been what had just happened. Peter just wanted the chance to know Charlotte, and gain her trust again, that was something she'd wanted for the last year since she first decided to tell Peter the truth about the fact that he was the father.

Making her way upstairs she walked into Charlotte's room to check on her, it was about time she had lunch. Opening the door she found that Charlotte had already sat up and was playing with a small toy that Alex had given her when they were in Melbourne the year before. "Hey bom" Claire cooed at the little girl, "how about some lunch hey?"

* * *

Alex, Tess, and Nick all made their way into the kitchen at drovers dun, no one said a word. That had been the way they'd been ever since they left Peter's place and had explained the situation to Nick. None of them liked Peter, that was something that didn't need to be said to be obvious, but this? This wasn't something that anyone deserved.

"Hey guys" Claire smiled as she came up behind them in the entry way to the kitchen, "where did you three disappear too?"

"Um, we just went into fisher to get some supplies that nick needed" Alex told her, trying to sound somewhat normal, it didn't work though, Claire could tell that something was going on with him. "How was your morning?" he changed the subject, noticing Claire's change of mood from that morning.

"Yeah it wasn't all that bad" Claire answered, giving Alex a concerned look as she placed Charlotte in her high chair at the table. "Are you guys all ok; you're all a bit quiet?"

"Yeah" Nick and Tess spoke up in unison. "Yeah" Alex added, "just a slow morning".

"Ok then" Claire responded they were obviously hiding something; she'd have to get it out of them later. "Peter came by this morning" she started.

"Really" Nick looked surprised.

"He didn't come to make trouble did he?" Alex added, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"No not at all" Claire reassured him, "quite the opposite really".

"Really, why's that?" Tess joined the conversation, doing as the others had done and taking a seat at the table where Meg had left them all lunch.

"Well for starters, he's dropping the custody battle" she explained.

Alex, Nick and Tess, all looked up at her slightly shocked. "Well that's something then" Alex smiled slightly.

"Yeah" Claire responded, "he realised that it was doing more harm than good".

"So was there anything else then?" Tess hinted.

"No, not really, we just talked about arrangements for Charlotte" she answered, "He's going to spend some time with her on every second Sunday until I'm more comfortable with the whole situation. And then she can stay with him over the weekend once a fortnight" she explained, turning her attention to Alex who was watching her, "I hope you don't mind that we decided without you".

"No, of course I don't, we knew that there was a high possibility that that would happen anyway".

"So did he say why he was doing this in the first place then?" Tess brought the subject up again, this time, getting piercing looks from both Nick and Alex who were swearing her to silence.

"Not really, he just wanted to see Charlotte" Claire told them, "Why is there something I don't know?" she asked, noticing her sisters tone of voice.

"No" the other three all exclaimed in unison, making Claire feel uneasy about what was really going on.

"Are you sure you're all fine?"

"Of course" Alex told her, reaching over the table to hold her hand in reassurance.

"Mu, ahh" Charlotte mumbled in her baby language.

"Alright bom, I'll get you something to eat then" Claire turned her attention to her daughter who had been waiting patiently for her lunch.

"Speaking of which" Tess tried breaking the ice. "These sandwiches Meg mad look good".

* * *

After lunch Claire left Charlotte with Meg up at the house while she got back into working on training one of the new horses (Daisy) they'd gotten in from a local farmer. She still couldn't work out what had gotten Alex, Nick and Tess all so agitated. Something was going on and she was going to find out. Not that she would able to get to the bottom of it all while the tree of them weren't there; Alex had gone over to Killarney to do some work, and Nick and Tess had gone to check on their organic crops and stock over at Willgrall.

Whatever it was, she knew it had something to do with Peter, she could feel the tension in the room when ever anything about him was mentioned.

"Alright girl" Claire spoke gently as she entered the small fenced off area where Daisy was being kept, "let's see what you can do then".

* * *

"So if this all goes well then we should be harvesting it all next week" Nick smiled as he spoke to Tess while they walked back towards the main house at Nick's property.

"Good" Tess sighed, "what about the sheep then, do you think their ready to sell".

"Not just yet" he started opening the door and letting Tess in first, "I think they still need a little bit more time to fatten up before we get a decent price for them. Tell you what though, the market prices have been getting pretty good though, if it stays like this I recon we'll be able to afford that new harvester we were looking into getting".

"Really?" she exclaimed, they'd given up the idea only a few weeks ago when they had to fork out more money than expected for general repairs on the windmill. "That's great" she added, grabbing two glasses out of the cupboard in the kitchen and filling them up with water from the tap. Suddenly the room went quiet and the sound of a car could be heard coming up the driveway, "where you expecting anyone Nick?"

"No" he answered, taking the glass of water out of her hand, "thanks".

"Hey Nick!" Alex's voice could be heard from outside as the car came to a stop.

Nick and Tess both made their way out to the front of the house to find Alex unloading new fencing off the back of his ute.

"What's all this?" Nick asked Alex.

"You accidentally unloaded it at Killarney with the stuff Dad asked you to get in Fisher this morning" Alex explained.

"Sorry mate, thanks for dropping it off".

"No problem" Alex told him, after all they had all had other things on their mind when they came back from Fisher that morning.

"So we were just taking a break, did you want to come in and have a drink?" Tess offered.

"Sure".

The three of them made their way back inside and sat down, Tess going into the kitchen to get a drink for Alex, when she returned the conversation had already turned to Claire.

"How are we supposed to tell her?" Alex questioned, "I mean, if we tell her she'll know we were going behind her back".

"Yeah but if we don't she'll hate us for not telling her" Tess added, passing Alex a drink.

"Exactly" he agreed, "no matter what we do were in trouble".

"Or we could find a way to get him to come clean to her" Nick joined in.

"Yeah but how do we do that? If we confront him he'll know we broke into his place" Alex pointed out.

"Not necessarily" Tess came up with an idea.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"Well, if we ran into him at one of his appointments he couldn't really deny it, could he?"

"Yeah I suppose" Alex agreed, "but how do we do that? I mean, it's not like security isn't going to get suss when we turn up and start hovering around the oncology ward while he's getting treatment"

"Well" Tess started, "let's just say that it's going to take a bit of planning".

Chapter 7. Wedding plans

Claire makes dinner for her and Alex


End file.
